Lionheart: The Beast Inside
by Leo Connors
Summary: Lionheart and his friends face off against Dr. Eggman Nega. But when something already inside of him awakens, he will have to learn to control his new power for the greater good of his planet, and his friends. SilverXBlaze, OCXOC.


Chapter 1: The Monster Awakens

It was a quiet night in the futuristic Prosper City. The planet of Mobius had fallen asleep, and all was peaceful. Peaceful, that is, except for three figures running on building rooftops across the city. One was a orange-brown male lion who sported brown hair, a blue jacket, a red t-shirt, blue jeans, white gloves, and grey shoes. Another was a brown female collie with long hair, a black and white striped t-shirt, white pants, black gloves, and black and white sneakers. The last one was a silver hedgehog with white gloves with gold rings and black boots with said colored rings. Two of them were running and jumping from building top to building top along a rusty train track, careful not to lose their footing and possibly fall, while the hedgehog was flying over them. As they continued their sprint, the buildings gradually got shorter, indicating they were nearing the edge of the city. Finally, when no building were visible, they descended toward the ground. The two runners made contact with the surface, while the flyer continued gliding in the air. The train tracks they were following led to an old abandoned train station.

Once they arrived in the area of the old building, the lion and collie skidded to a halt, while the hedgehog stopped his flight. "You sure this is the place, Kaylee?" the hedgehog asked the collie. "Yes, this is the place, Silver," she replied. She turned to the lion. "Picking up anything, Carter?"

The lion, as it turns out, was really a cyborg who was capable of switching between forms, from an organic looking cover to a mechanical body. His eyes, which had built in sensors, were scanning the warehouse. "I'm getting a massive energy signature from this place," he answered. "This is definitely the place, Kaylee." She nodded, then turned her head back to the door. "Well, let's go in," she said as she pushed open the doors with some difficulty. Once they finally swung outward, they all entered the massive structure. There were several small tractors and cranes. Boxes cluttered several areas. Carter was surveying the area, searching for any signs of a passageway. They were all here for one reason: to defeat their enemy Dr. Eggman Nega. He had attacked the city several times, but he was thwarted by the trio. Still, they knew that something was up, as he hadn't attacked in several weeks, which is rather unusual.

"Man, this place looks like it's seen better days," Silver remarked as he searched behind some old furniture. "Yeah, you got that right," Carter replied as he felt the walls for something to activate a secret panel of some sort. Several minutes passed, but they have no luck. Carter slumps down on a nearby couch. "I don't know, guys," he sighs. "Maybe we're just not thinking the right way." A panel opens up on his forearm, revealing a small keypad, and he begins to fiddle with it. However, when he hits several random numbers and accidentally presses enter, the floor under them rumbled. Two panels stoop downwards, and they slid back, revealing a secret entrance. "Wow, that was lucky," Kaylee mutters as she stares down at the sloping shaft. "Well, shall we?" Carter says to his friends. The two nod, and they all begin to descend into the bright hallway. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all spotlessly gleaming, completely white. They all continued walking across the shaft until they reached a large room. At the end, there were several large monitors with a long control panel at the bottom. The room was filled with machinery. "So, looks like V-03 did a good job keeping this room clean, considering he's a neat-nick," Carter jokes.

Silver approaches the control panel. "Okay, let's see what Nega's been up to," he says. "Yo, Carter! How about some hacking?" Carter turns and walks to where Silver is. He stares at the monitor, which has a password icon. "Okay, let's see what you've got, Egghead," he retorts as he begins to type in various passwords. In his mind, he gains access to the network in the complex. He scrolls over several files until he finds the thing he's looking for. "Looks like we got you," Carter says intently as he types in the password: Project Venice. "Dad," Kaylee says sadly. Silver goes over to comfort her. "Hey, sis. It'll be fine. We'll find him. I know it," he tries. She smiles at him. "Thanks, bro," she remarks.

Suddenly, alarms begin to sound in the room. The three look up startled, not having expected the sudden alert. The door behind them closes abruptly, leaving them trapped in the room. " #$%!" Carter yells. "I triggered a firewall!" He slams his fist on the control panel. Silver watches as several large wall panels open, releasing streams of armored robots. He then sees one more panel open, and a hovering pod enters the room. The pod carries a large man with a white mustache, green goggles, blue glasses, a red leather onesie, black jacket, white gloves, and yellow and black striped boots. Attached to the pods are two smaller vessels, carrying two more robots. However, these robots resemble hedgehogs, one of them with white fur, a red gem on its head, several visible mechanical parts, a ponytail with many sharp quills, and orange chest fur, while the other one has orange fur, white chest fur, a black bandana with a red gem in the center, and blue optics. "Well, look what the cat dragged in," Carter mutters as he turns to glare at the figures in the pod. "Nega and the scrap brothers." The man sneered. "Their names are V-01 and V-02, you unemotional hunk of metal!" he yells back. The white robot sneers. "Good to see you, traitor," he says. It was true that Carter was built by Nega, but thanks to a glitch in his programming, he became noble and compassionate.

"Good to see you, too, V-01!" Silver replied sarcastically. "Now I can defeat you again!" V-01 glared at his nemesis. "We'll see who's laughing once my master claims your lives!" Carter, who walked to his friends, closed his eyes. In an instant, his skin-like cover begin to molecularly deconstruct, revealing a mechanical interior. Once the transformation was done, he opened his eyes, which revealed black Scleras, glowing blue irises, and glowing blue pupils. He raised his fist, which quickly converted into a small plasma energy cannon. He held up his weaponized arm, smirking. "Alright, let's play," he retorts. "Get those insufferable rodents!" Nega yells. The two hedgehog robots jump from their pods. "Okay, Lionheart, why don't we settle this 1-on-1?" V-01 asks says intently, then pulls out one of his sharp quills, holding it like a dagger. "Your move," Carter retorts. His real alias was Lionheart, but he preferred his pseudonym. A sharp blade extends from his wrist, and a faceplate covers his mouth. He moves into an attack stance, indicating he was ready for battle. "You're scrap metal!" V-01 cried as he charged at Lionheart. But the cyborg was faster. He rammed his head into V-01's abdomen, then lifted his head abruptly, smashing into his enemy's jaw. The robot stumbled backwards. "Hey, I wasn't ready!" he yelled angrily. "I said 'Your move,' didn't I?" Lionheart asked with a smirk. The robot's anger increased, and he charged again at his target. But this time, Lionheart dug his blade into V-01's neck, almost taking it off. To finish him off, he wrenched of his head, letting the body collapse. "See? Just like last time!" he joked. V-01 glared at him. "Hey!" Silver called. "I wanted to do that!" Carter looked at him awkwardly. "Oh, uh, sorry!" he replied. Then he kicked V-01's bodiless head to his friend, who instantly caught him. "You know, it's only so many times that I've seen you without a body," Silver said with a grin. "Shut up," V-01 said.

Meanwhile, Lionheart went over to where Kaylee was, where she was fighting off a group of robots. "Hey, need a hand?" Carter asked as he shot one robot in the chest. "Actually, I could use an arm cannon," Kaylee replied jokingly. Carter smirked. "With pleasure!" he said as he drove the barrel of his cannon into a robot's head. He fired, causing it to explode. Kaylee lifted up a robot with her telekinesis, then sent it flying into another mech. Suddenly, the orange hedgebot flew towards her on a hoverboard. "Hi, I'm here to stop you!" he said as he rammed into her. "Get off me, V-02!" she replied as she fought against his grip on her shoulders. Just then, Lionheart flew straight into V-02's body, freeing his friend. "You're welcome, by the way!" he yelled as he drove the orange bot into a wall. "Hey, I was just trying to take over the world, is all!" V-02 said as he tried to get the lion mech off of his body. "That's exactly the problem!" Lionheart replied. He threw the hedgebot across the room. "Well, you don't have to throw me!" V-02 retorted. He got up and drew out a small laser rifle. "You think I'm scared of tha-!" Carter started, but he was cut off by a beam of energy that threw him against the wall. "Okay," he muttered. "From now on, I'm not gonna judge a book by it's cover." He flew straight at V-02, dodging laser blasts along the way. Finally, he swiped away V-02's rifle and hit him across the face, sending him flying.

V-02 got up, picked up V-01's nearby head, and ran back to Nega's pod. "They just finished off the last of the robots," V-01 explained. "What do we do now?" Nega sneered. "I've got just the thing," he said. Silver caught sight of his nemesis leaving the room. "Hey, he's getting away!" He yelled, and the other two followed him through the panel Nega entered. They ran until they entered another room. But this time, this room looked rather different, as it had a large glowing circle in the center of the floor, and surrounding it were several large podiums. At one end, there was a large clear cylinder filled with a strange purple energy. Lionheart turned to walk over to the cylinder, scanning it for any sort of energy signature. "Man, these readings are through the roof," he remarked. Suddenly, he heard a low, menacing voice. "Well, looks like you found me," the voice said in a snarky tone. The trio turned to the direction of the voice, seeing Eggman Nega, V-02, and V-01's head.

"Well, looks like you've done some work," Lionheart said. "No wonder you were gone for several weeks." V-01, being a head that is held by V-02 smirked. "That's right, and you know what that energy's for?" he asked. "It's what's called dark energy," Eggman described. "It's main purpose is to corrupt a single living body." Lionheart smirked. "Yeah, well, what are you gonna use it for?" he asked. "I'll use it on THEM!" Nega replied. Lionheart turned to see his friends standing on the circle. "No!" he yelled. He rushed over to them, pushing them off of the circle just as the evil tyrant pressed a button to activate the machine. In an instant, he was caught in several violet arcs of electricity. "AAGH!" he screamed as he fell onto his hands and knees. Just a short distance away from him, Silver and Kaylee tried to run over to help their friend. But they were stopped and restrained by two robots. "Stop, let us go!" Kaylee yelled as she tried to fight against the robot's grip. Silver tried using his telekinetic ability to disarm the machines, but to no avail. "Carter!" he yelled as he struggled.

Lionheart, who was continuously being electrocuted by the machine, was clenching his eyes shut, with constricted groaning escaping from his mouth. V-01 stared in shock. "Nega, this wasn't supposed to happen! What are we gonna do?" he asked worriedly. The large man simply smirked. "I think I know what to do. We just sit and watch," he replied. As they all watched, Lionheart's groaning was starting to become more and more feral. "What's happening to him?" Kaylee asked in a concerned tone. Suddenly, her friend opened his eyes. But instead of a glowing blue, they were a glowing bright yellow, with his pupils becoming black slits. He let out a sharp cry, as if he was in some sort of agonizing pain. He arched his back, and his entire body began to transform. He slammed a fist onto the ground, causing the thick glass to somehow crack. His entire arm begin to shift, making it slightly larger, the tips of his metal fingers reconfiguring into sharp pointed ends. His teeth switched from straight lines into sharp white daggers. He convulsed, and his entire body took on a more threatening appearance. When he looked back up, he was no longer a young teenage cyborg. Instead, he was now a giant metal beast, with large claws and sharp teeth. He let out a loud, mechanical roar that shook the entire room, and its occupants.

Silver and his sister, Kaylee, stared at the monster that their friend had become. "Silver, what happened to him?" she asked in both fear and worry. He shook his head. "I don't know, but that's not Carter. That's something else entirely," he replied in the same tone. The hulking metal beast turned to where Eggman's pod was hovering, letting out a ferocious growl. The enormous human let grow a sly grin across his face. "Perfect," he said in a nasty tone. "Now, destroy those two rodents!" He pointed to where Silver and Kaylee were being restrained by the robots. The machines let them go, allowing them to collapse onto the ground. The beast looked over to them, quietly growling, then slowly approached them on all fours. Silver backed away slowly, but noticed that his sister had taken no effort to try to escape. In fact, she was slowly inching towards her mutated friend. "Kaylee, what are you doing?" he whispered loudly. "I think I can bring him back," she replied calmly.

She reached out her hand, which the monster of her friend stared at shortly. Then he approached her cautiously. She flinched slightly when he finally reached her, but held her position. The beast began sniffing her hand, searching for any signs of hostility. Once he was done, he looked back at her calmly, as if recognizing her. "Yes, it's me, Carter. I'm your friend," she whispered softly. His face inched towards her's slowly, then he began to nuzzle her cheek affectionately, purring gently. She felt her face go hot as she blushed slightly. "Yeah, it's gonna be okay," she said. Silver simply stared at her in shock. "How did you do that?" he asked quietly. "I don't know. I just felt that he was still himself somewhere." Behind them, Nega's face began to grow red with fury. "No, no no!" he yelled. "How is this possible?!" He pressed a button on his pod's control panel. "Robots, attack!" he roared. In an instant, dozens of robots began filing out of nearby doors. Looking behind him, the metal monster roared loudly. He tore a machine off a nearby wall, then hurled it at the robots, completely obliterating them. He grabbed Kaylee by the waist, picking her up. He then grabbed Silver the same way. Turning to Eggman, he roared one last time before he jumped upwards, tearing through the roof of the lab as well as the warehouse, flying off into the distance. As Nega watched, V-01's face began to grow weary. "Master, what are we going to do now? With that thing out of our control, how will we take over the world now?" he asked urgently. The man pondered this for a moment. "I'll think of something. Something really brilliant," he replied, rubbing his chin.

Hours later, in the center of the city, the monster landed in the alleyway of a large hotel. He put down his friends, who turned to look at him. "Wow, that was incredible," Silver said. "Yeah, thanks for saving us," Kaylee told her friend. The beast nodded, smirking, then looked up to see the first glare of dawn. Suddenly, he began to grow weak, stumbling backwards. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy, big guy," Silver instructed as he ran to help his massive friend. The hulking mass of sentient machinery fell onto its hands and knees, similar to Lionheart when he became the monster. As his friends watched, parts of his beast like appearance began to fold back into the body, similar to that of a Rubik's Cube. The creature panted as it transformed back into a more humanoid shape. When he looked up, Lionheart had returned. "Uh, what's with the strange looks?" he asked weakly. Kaylee kneeled beside him. "Well, why don't we explain this later?" she asked. Lionheart nodded. "Yeah, okay. After breakfast," he replied.

A short while later, after clearing everything up with Silver and Kaylee's adoptive mother, Ms. Irene, who was the owner of the hotel, Lionheart, in his disguise, was washing his plate. Behind him, he heard someone walk towards him, his ears swinging backward. He turned his head, and saw Kaylee stop right next to him. "Oh, hey Kaylee," he said. She nodded in return. "So, you want me to explain what happened last night?" she asked. He pondered this for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, let's do it," he replied. He sat down at a nearby table, then looked at his friends, waiting for an answer. "So, what happened isn't that easy to explain," Silver said. "Well, when you were being electrocuted by that dark energy, something strange happened," Kaylee described. "You sort of became feral, and you transformed into some sort of mechanical beast." Carter looked at her in surprise. "I became a beast?" he asked in clear disbelief. She nodded. "But somehow, I could still feel your soul inside that body. I knew that you were still in there. Somewhere," she continued. She placed her hand on top of his hand. "You were still in there, you just looked different." Carter looked down in abject confusion. "Well, when I was being electrocuted, I could have sworn I felt something fighting to get out of me. Waiting for me to lose control," he pondered. "It was as if there was something already inside of me. That's when I lost control, and I wasn't me anymore. I was something else entirely." Silver looked at him strangely. "So, you think that thing you turned into was something that lied their in your system all your life?" He asked. "Well, yes," Carter replied. "And you know what?" He looked up at his friends. "I got a feeling it ain't over."

And he was quite right.


End file.
